New very young kitten, where should it sleep?

[Trovindia]

On Wednesday we are picking up a kitten from a rescue. He is 9 weeks and was separated from mum at 3 weeks with his three siblings, he is in the rescue now with just one of his brothers so has been used to being with other cats. He has been hand reared by a foster, I'm not sure how long he's been in the rescue rather than the foster home but I don't think long.

We have two cats, one is very old and the other is just over a year. In the day the plan is to keep the kitten in the dining room while we scent swap and introduce them and he settles in.

But I don't know what to do at night. Will he be really lonely downstairs overnight? Our house is quite big and we won't hear him miaow I don't think. But if we bring him upstairs we will have to shut our other cats out which we don't usually do, plus bring a litter tray up.

He's just so little and has had a bad start to life, I don't want to traumatise him! What is best to do?

Battersea say 9 weeks. I suppose 12 weeks would be ideal if it were a litter you’d had at home but rescues need to balance the needs of the kitten with creating space for new arrivals and realistically anything over 8 weeks will be fine even if it isn’t totally optimum.

Don’t forget the cat tax when he arrives OP!

That's cause cats are the best.
🤣

@limetrees32 We must stay united as we are mere servants, sharing tips on how to placate our feline overlords.

Dogs are also available

I'm glad you've got a playpen. I was going to suggest borrowing a crate (or looking on fb marketplace) and setting him up in there overnight.

...unless your playpen has a roof, I wouldn't expect him to stay contained 😄

Last time we got a kitten my partner slept on the couch with her tucked under his arm. However, I’ve never had an issue with integrating kittens with older cats straight away so I’d just take it to bed with you. The older ones might go elsewhere and sulk but they’ll soon get over it.

I've often thought that. That's why I lurk on the Excellent Cats thread - the cats are lovely and so are the people. Best place on MN.

I've fostered dozens of kittens and I'm really struggling to visualise a playpen that will contain a nine week old kitten!

Turned upside down might be a plan?

After all, we aren't talking about a teeny baby that needs to be placed into a litter tray and their backside cleaned multiple times a day, we're talking about a compact nuclear explosion with whiskers.

If you can bring the sibling too then they would keep each other company in the dining room fine at night. We rescued two kittens and they snuggled together at night (and still
do occasionally) only kept them away from
older cat for a couple of months at night. Now they all go downstairs at night together.

My kitten now cat and the old girl always sleep with me. They follow me wherever I go.

It does have a mesh roof!

It's this one. The circle in the middle is mesh and zips closed

Just here to pay the tax, tonight's the first night, I'll report back but so far he's settling in well, has been playing with us lots and exploring his room. He's very confident although a bit nervous as you would expect.

Gorgeous little face!

He’s absolutely gorgeous😻- I hope your first night went well!

What a lovely fella!

Oh seems I found this thread at the best time, just after the tax!

Lovely little chap.

The rescue we got our latest boy from were happy for us to take him as a single kitten as we already had a cat at home, if we hadn’t they would insist on two. They also let us take him at 10 weeks rather than 12 as him and his sisters had all found homes and there was another litter they were going out to trap and needed their spaces so we got him early.

I hope your boy settles in nicely.

It needs to be in your bed for the time being.. till it’s more confident/stronger.

Clearly he needs to be on my lap!! He looks gorgeous and happy and will soon be a part of the family I am sure. My cat was the runt of the litter and picked on by her litter mates as they got older so I think she was glad of the break when I rehomed her :) Purdey was a slightly older kitten though (16 weeks) and had spent a couple of weeks under my granddaughters bed avoiding her siblings.